Fly Free, my Soul
by strawberryshini
Summary: Ichigo is kidnapped by the School, and has wings grafted onto his back. He meets the flock when they come to rescue Angel, and they go on a series of adventures together. -mostly on the MR side, but some Bleach stuff too- -Fax and Ichiruki- not romantic
1. Chapter 1

((FLY FREE, MY SOUL))

I woke up slowly, an alarm blaring in my ear. I reached over and hit the snooze button, and, without thinking about how I didn't even own an alarm clock, I slowly sat up and arched my back, my arms extended behind my head, stretching. I rolled my neck, and then my shoulders, then laced my fingers together and cracked them all that way. That's when I finally got out of bed. Rukia looked at me sadly before jumping out the second-story window for her last day at school before going back to the soul society. I stared at the floor for a minute before finally deciding that it was time for me to get dressed, so I did. Yawning at least eight times as I got ready, I left, still exhausted.

School was stupid. It dragged on and on, no one caring about anything the teachers said. The end of the day exhausted me more. All of my spiritually aware friends gathered on the roof to say goodbye to Rukia. There were tears, Namely, Orihime's. Rukia hugged everyone, including a reluctant Uryuu, and made her way back to Urahara's shop before leaving the world of the living for a while. We all watched her disappear into the distance, and then we all went our own ways.

I was halfway back to the clinic when I blacked out.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

Hey guys! I know that this was a short chapter, but, when is the first chapter the longest? That would be weird. So, yeah. I know that crossovers don't usually get half as much attention then normal fanfics, so I've already written a few chapters of this story so I can post them about once a week. Hope you enjoy it! (:


	2. Chapter 2

Recap:

We all watched her disappear into the distance, and then we all went our own ways.

I was halfway back to the clinic when I blacked out.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

My consciousness retuned when I heard some yelling, and a motor running. It took me longer then it should've to open my eyes, and realize that the yelling had something to do with a sack that was sitting next to someone, no, some_thing_ sitting near the opening to a chopper. It was pointing a gun at something. Then it stood up, and dumped the contents of the sack on the floor. A little blonde girl came tumbling out. Now, if this wasn't terrifying enough, the fact that she had wings and was obviously stronger then a normal human made me turn my head. That little movement made me realize how much pain I was in. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again, to down at myself. I was lying on the floor, my wrists and ankles bound with tight rope. At the other end of the plane, was my bag. I'm not sure why they kept that, but there it was. Suddenly, I felt a pinch on my arm, and my vision got blurry. I fought to focus as I looked up, straight into a very dog-like face. The dogface had a syringe in his hand, and I knew that he just injected me with something. As I fought for consciousness, I watched a few other Dogfaces wrestling the girl into a cage at the back of the chopper. The Dogface that injected me stayed close, in case I needed something more. I kept fighting, but I finally had to give into the darkness that threatened me.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

I woke up for the third time in twenty-four hours. I had to fight to clear my mind that was probably still foggy from whatever the stupid Dogface injected me with. After a few tries, I finally managed to get whatever was above me in focus. A small white spot on a big grey surface. I reached up to try to touch it, and realized that the thing that I was looking at was way closer then it seemed. I closed my eyes to steady myself, and then sat up as best I could in the small space. I opened my eyes, and what I saw almost made me lay down again. I was in a cage surrounded by many others, others filled with things that shouldn't exist. I ran my hand through my hair, messed it up, then shook my head to fix it. I looked around again. To my left was nothing but mistakes, obvious failures. To my right, was the girl in the chopper. She looked at me and I could feel her presence in my head. I frowned, and blinked a couple of times, trying to break the link, but it didn't work.

"What the hell?" I thought. "Zangetsu? You there? What the hell is this girl doing?"

"I think that she can read minds," Zangetsu's slightly fogged voice replied, obviously not sure.

The startled look on the girls face told me all I needed to know. I twisted around in the cage the best I could manage, and looked at her.

"Hey, where the hell are we?" I asked her.

"The School," came the hesitant reply.

"The what?"  
>"The School. It's a lab dedicated to playing god."<p>

"Great. There's enough of those bastards in the world," I muttered as a door swung open, announcing the entrance of something. A Dogface rolled a cage into the room, then left. "What is that?"

"An experiment. It's gonna die soon, if it's not dead already," the girl replied.

"Okay then. That's, not disturbing at all," I said, shivering.

There was a pause when another Dogface came in the room, and looked around carefully. His eyes locked on the girl, and my heart skipped a beat. Then he looked away, right at me. I looked at the girl, and she looked back at me, and it almost seemed like she was giving me luck. I blinked gratefully, and waited for whatever was going to happen. The Dogface came up to me, and without a word, unlocked the cage, and pulled me out. I didn't struggle too much, that stupid drug hadn't worn off completely yet. Then, as it was dragging me into a different room, it injected me again, and I passed out. Again.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

So! Apparently my favorite word (in this chapter) is injected. I must've used it three to four times.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurai'sInspiration: Haha, thanks, but the breaker is Zoidberg. (go look up Futurama if you don't know who/what Zoidberg is) My pack man would be (. . . . but my favorite all time text-based emoticon is the emo... /_^

Recap:

I didn't struggle too much, that stupid drug hadn't worn off completely yet. Then, as it was dragging me into a different room, it injected me again, and I passed out. Again.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

I woke (again! Jeez…) in the cage that I was in before. If one of those things injected me with that crap again, I'm gonna bite it. I felt sore, like I had new muscles that I wasn't used to. I wanted to arch my back and stretch, like I did that morning. Or was it the morning before? I don't know anymore. Obviously, I couldn't do that, because of the cage, but I wanted to. Bad. I looked around, and saw some Dogfaces forcing the bird girl into her cage. She looked terrified and miserable, until she looked up and saw me. Then she looked at me with awe.

"What?" I asked.

"Look," she murmured, and pointed to a spot behind me. I turned my head, and I saw wings. I blinked, then rubbed my eyes, and looked again. I had freaking wings. Surprisingly, I knew a lot about bird wings, and I could name the different kinds of feathers. My covert feathers where a deep black, so deep, you almost couldn't see each individual feather. My primary feathers where a bright orange, the same colour as my hair, and my secondary wings where blood red. I stared at my wings so long, that the next thing I knew, the girl was trying to get my attention.

"Huh?"

"I never asked you your name!" The girl said. "I'm Angel."

"Oh, I'm Ichigo," I said, as a few of the Dogfaces came back in. Half of them went straight to me, while the other half made a beeline for Angel. The dragged us into separate rooms, and I swear I could hear her getting zapped. Hours of testing and "enhancements" left us exhausted. Every once in a while, I could hear a hollow screaming, and I could feel Zangetsu in my hands, I could smell it's blood, and I could see it disintegrating into nothing. I had to keep shaking my head, but a lot of times, they wouldn't let me. So I was stuck with those disturbing images in my head. I had this funny feeling that those hollows where the distorted souls that constantly die here.

We had almost gotten back into a conversation, when a door opened again. Being shoved through the door by Dogfaces, where three normal looking teenagers. That is, they looked normal, until the Dogfaces shoved them into cages, and I caught sight of their wings. The one who looked to be the oldest was shoved in a cage on the other side of Angel.

"Max!" She cried.

"Angel?" came the reply.

"Where are Iggy and gazzy?"

"I don't know," Max said. I could tell by the tone in her voice, that she knew, that they probably got away, but didn't want to say it out loud.

"Max? I have to tell you something," Angel said, wincing as a door opened. I jumped slightly, and Max noticed me. Of course, she didn't say anything, because someone stopped right in front of her cage. He looked down into it, and said something, and I saw Max freeze. He opened her cage, and she slowly climbed out of it, and walked away without a word, her hand behind her back, two fingers together. When the door closed with them behind it, Angel looked at me.

"What?" I asked, under her gaze, and was slightly amused when one of the other two jumped at the sound of my voice. Of course, amusement doesn't last long in a place like this.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." I could just make out her grin.

Max and the man came back in, and he latched her cage, after she got in, of course. He leaned down in front of the cage and was muttering something about trust to her. I could see the rage and murderous intent she tried to hide from her facial features. If it wasn't for that stupid drug, I probably could have felt it coming off of her in waves.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

The door opened again, and almost everyone jumped. There was some chattering, but I had been overdosed with that stupid drug so many times, that I was just limp, and my brain was so foggy that I could barely see, let alone try to focus my hearing on some idiotic people. There was some crashing, and one of them yelled, loud enough to penetrate my consciousness. All I heard was "Get the other one too!" The cage I was in was roughly thrown on a pile of others, but I was so numb that I couldn't feel any pain. They wheeled the cages out into a painfully bright hallway, and I closed my eyes, lay on my side, and curled up into a ball, my wings curled around my body protectively. Someone hit the side of my cage hard, to try to rouse me, but I didn't move. I was so tired. I heard some doors swing open, and the feeling of not-so-fresh air filled my lungs. I didn't care, I just curled up tighter. I heard someone, who must have been in another cage, take a deep breath. There was some more chattering, and then, a yell jerked me from my stupor. I frowned in the sunlight, and saw a Dogface had his fingers in one of the cages, his face contorted in pain. I watched as he kicked over a cage, and I saw Max reach out of it to unlock the one she was in front of. I watched Angel slowly make her way out, and watched one of the Dogfaces smash open Max's cage, and I watched as she threw Angel up into the air. Then she turned, running from the scientists, back toward the rest of the cages. I heard her unlock another one, and the guy jumped out of his. I watched them fight, and Max made her way back to us, the last two. She undid the last girl's then looked straight at me, as though evaluating my strength. She hesitated for a moment, and then unlatched the cage as fast as she could. I took a breath, and jumped out. I rolled my neck and shoulders for the first time in forever, then waited as a couple of the Dogfaces came running toward me. I snarled, narrowed my eyes, and said, "Take me away from my family, my friends, you're gonna pay." I know that's kind of a cheesy line, but I was pissed. I punched them both, not used to hand-to-hand combat, taking them out with one punch. Some of the scientists came toward me, but they stopped, seeing my face. They knew me. I knew them. They were part of Kurotsuchi's squad. We stared at each other, and they went running the other direction, knowing my strength. I heard Angel's voice calling my name as the group of kids rose into the air. Spreading my wings for the first time, I lifted off the ground. I looked up to Angel, she was so small, it must've been hard for her to fly. Me, being the heroic idiot that I am, grabbed her and swung her onto my back as I rose past. Catching up quickly with the rest, we flew in a formation, as fast as we could, away from the School.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

Ok! There's chapter three. (: hope you like it!


	4. Chapter 4

I just realized that I don't have a disclaimer for the last three chapters, so here it is. I DO NOT own either Bleach OR Maximum Ride.

Recap:

Catching up quickly with the rest, we flew in a formation, as fast as we could, away from the School.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

I learned a lot of new things as I was flying with the group. The first thing we did was introducing ourselves. Max was the oldest, and basically the leader of the Flock, Fang was the second oldest, and the least expressive, Iggy, the third oldest, was the best cook, Nudge, the third youngest, was the most talkative, Gazzy, the second youngest, was one of the only pair of blood-related siblings, and Angel, the youngest, could read minds. None of this startled me as much as the fact that I was a year older than Max, making me the oldest. Not that I was going to start doing all of their chores or anything, but this did make an impact on me. I glanced over at Angel, who was flying on her own, when I heard Max let out a choking noise. I snapped my head around to see her falling. Instantly I dove, years of catching falling people taking its toll on my reflexes. I caught her, and brought her up to the rest of the flock. She got her share of worried glances, and Fang sent me a couple sympathetic ones. Something told me this was out of the ordinary. After a while of flying, Max finally opened her eyes, and looked right at me. The corner of my lip twitched up as a few worried bird-kids shouted questions. She answered them, and then looked at me.

"Can we land? Please?" The tone she used reminded me so much of some other people I knew.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

We had set up camp, and a campfire crackled in the middle of us all. Angel started talking to Max about where they where from, and soon all of the flock was listening. She was talking about how they had real parents.

"They got the bird genes into us with a…amino…ammo…"

"Amniocentesis?" I asked. Everyone looked at me funny. "What? My science teacher knew too much about that kind of stuff. It was kinda freaky," I shuddered. "Anyway, continue."

Angel went through the others of the flock, leaving Max hanging, and me wondering what they would've thought about me.

"I'm sorry, you two, I heard nothing about you."

Max looked sad, and I nodded.

"I knew that they wouldn't have anything on me, but I know my own history."

(V) (;,,;) (V)

I know this chapter was kind of short, but I thought that this was a good place to leave off. Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5

Recap: "I knew that they wouldn't have anything on me, but I know my own history."

(V) (;,,;) (V)

The flock looked horrified. I had just finished telling them my history. At least, a lot of it. I left out the whole Shinigami part. Max looked the most horrified out of all of them.

"So they're tearing apart families that where together for over fifteen years! I though just tearing newborn babies from their parents was bad," Max shook her head.

"Wow, you where normal? What was it like to be normal? I wish that I knew what it's like. To have a mom and a dad, and maybe some brothers and sisters, to live in a house, and oh! Have a dog!" Nudge rambled.

I laughed. "Well, I wouldn't say that I was normal. I, uh, had some interesting qualities."

"What do you mean?" Gazzy looked at me.

I was about to answer, when a something fell out of a tree. Everyone scattered, probably thinking that it was a Dogface. I looked over the log I was hiding behind.

"Rukia?" I dared, getting up. "Damn, midget, you scared the crap outta me!"

"Damn, Strawberry, it was impossible to get you attention! I had to get a freaking giga…" she stopped as the others rose from their hiding spots. "Who?"

"Rukia," I sighed. "I have wings." I spread them out for her to see.

"What?" she stared. Then she shook her head. "That wouldn't make it so you couldn't see me."

"I don't know about that," I muttered, realizing for the first time, that I hadn't heard a hollow scream, or seen a spirit since we left the School. "I honestly have no idea."

She looked at me. "Let me see your pass."

"I don't have it. I left it in my room."

"Hm. Meet me there," she said, disappearing.

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, you guys could either come to Japan with me, or go to where ever you're going without me."

Everyone looked at Max.

"What will we do for food? Shelter? We don't know the laws, don't know their language, don't have any of their currency."

"I have one solution for all of those. My family's clinic."

"We can't stay in someone's house without them finding out." Fang muttered, pointedly looking at Max.

"I kinda have to tell my dad anyway, and he probably won't care."

"Okay, what about the language?"  
>"I'll teach you some basics as we fly."<p>

Max sighed. "Alright. We'll go to Japan."

(V) (;,,;) (V)

Another short chapter. A little longer this time though. Maybe the next chapter will be longer.


	6. Chapter 6

Recap: Max sighed. "Alright. We'll go to Japan."

(V)(;,,;)(V)

-Any speech here will be in Japanese-

A few days and a bunch of random Japanese lessons later, and we landed in an empty area on the outskirts of Karakura, and walked the rest of the way, our wings tucked into the grooves in our backs. We got to the park that Rukia and I trained the first day. There, I was attacked by a flying something. I managed to catch it, and looked down at it.

"Kurosaki-kun!" it yelled. "Where have you been?"

"Hey, Orihime. I'll tell you later, ok? I need to find Goat-face."

"Ok! See you at school, Kurosaki-kun!" She announced, skipping away.

"Is she always that hyper?" someone asked behind me.

"Yeah. Unfortunately." I replied, rubbing my forehead. "Let's go before we run into anyone else."

A few minutes later, the flock and I burst into the clinic.

"Dad!" I yelled.

"Ichigo!" came a feminine yell.

"Dad?" Iggy murmured.

"No, that's Yuzu," I muttered back, just as she came around the corner, crying and jumping into my arms. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" I murmured softly in her ear.

"Ichigo, where did you go?" she sobbed. "I don't even know how long you where gone!"

"I'm sorry, Yuzu. I'll try not to leave without telling you first again."

She looked up, her eyes puffy and red. "Why did you leave in the first place?"

"It's kind of hard to explain."

"Okay, I get it. You want everyone to hear? Or do you just want to talk to Dad right now?"

"Well, I think I'd like to talk to Dad first. Oh, Yuzu, these are my friends. They're from America."

"Oh? You brought friends? I'll go make some sandwiches!" She said, rubbing her eyes.  
>"You might want to make a lot, these guys get pretty hungry," I whispered to her loudly. "We'll be up in my room, okay?"<p>

She laughed. "Okay!"

"What's up with her?" someone asked.

"She likes making food." Came a reply.

"I guess that's good," Max murmured.

I shook my head. "Come on, I'll show you around."

I had given the flock a tour of our house when Karin came up to us. "Where have you been, Ichigo? Yuzu and Goat-chin where worried."

"You weren't?" I teased.

"Well, not as much as they where. It was kind of pathetic."

"And that's what you ask and not 'who are those random people behind you'?" I asked.

"Yes. That is what I asked. But I think I will just leave now."

"Okay!" somebody laughed behind me.

I rolled my eyes, and we walked into my room, where Rukia was waiting with my combat pass and some random machine that she must've borrowed from Urahara.

"There you are, Ichigo! That took you long enough!'

"Well, I couldn't exactly do Shunpo."

"Why? Why can't I feel your reiatsu? I didn't know you where coming!"

"What?"

"C'me here," Rukia beckoned, ignoring the flock and holding up the combat pass.

"What is that?" I asked, staring at the machine sitting next to her on the bed.

"You know, I don't really know," Rukia admitted, staring at the machine. "Urahara gave it to me when I told him that I had to get a Gigai for you to see me."

"Go figure," I muttered, sitting on the chair next to the bed. "Hey! Guys! Come in here and find a place to sit."

I watched as the whole flock filed in and found a place to sit.

"Hey, Ichigo, how long are we going to stay here? We all want to get to the Institute," Max asked.

I looked at Rukia. "Should I?"

"If you feel that you can trust them," she replied, messing with the machine. "Oh! That's how this works!"

"Okay. So, I had said that I wasn't really normal before the School," I said, turning to the flock.

"Yeah, and you never answered my question," Gazzy said. "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath. "I am a Shinigami," I said, the flock staring at me, clueless. "Rukia? Help?"

Rukia sighed. "Man, I never thought I'd have to give the same speech twice in the same room," she muttered, while reaching for her sketchbook. She explained everything, including hollows and plusses, what Shinigami do, and things like Zanpaku-tou and Reiatsu.

When she was done, the flock was speechless. Half of them where staring at me with their mouths wide open, and the other half where staring at Rukia. Of course, Iggy stared straight at me even though he was blind. Rukia broke the silence.

"Hey, Ichigo, this thing is ready. Give me your arm."

I looked at her, and reached over. She put what seemed like a blood pressure gauge on my arm, and I visibly flinched, along with the flock.

"What's your problem?"

"Too many scientists."

"I totally understand that," Rukia murmured, obviously thinking about Kurotsuchi.

The thing squeezed my arm, just like a blood pressure gauge. I had to stare at it the whole time to make sure that I didn't rip it off of me. I could see Max tensing out of the corner of my eye.

"You don't know how bad I want to throw that thing out the window right now."

Rukia shook her head. "Please don't. I borrowed this thing. Hey, Ichigo," She looked up at me from the display screen. "This thing can't detect your Reiatsu. It's like, it's gone."

"What? Not a trace?"

"Well, there's a little, but it seems to be overwhelmed by something else. It's like, something that someone put into you to restrict your Reiatsu."

I glanced at the flock. "I think it might have been that thing that that stupid Dogface injected me with on the chopper."

Max's eyes widened. "What? What does that mean?"

"It means that once it wears off, I'll have my Reiatsu back."


	7. Chapter 7

Max's eyes widened. "What? What does that mean?"

"It means that once it wears off, I'll have my Reiatsu back."

(V) (;,,;) (V)

Flying over the ocean twice in a week is a lot more tiring than pretty. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that my wings weren't seemlessly grafted like the others, or maybe it was the fact that I still wasn't used to them. I wondered why the flock wanted me to come with them anyway. It's not like they won't have to fill me in on every detail for a long time. They must've had a meeting at my house when the girls and I where at school and goat-face was buisy. I wondered random things like this until someone broke the scilence.

"Oh, my God," I heard Max mutter, and break me out of my weird trancelike state. I looked down to see what had to be New York City, lights covering the lower portion of Manhattan Island.

"Is that music?" Iggy asked, confused.

"Yeah," I muttered nearby.

"It must be a concert," Max frowned.

After some beging and a quick decision, the flock was standing near the edge of the croud, while I, being somewhat exhausted, sat on the ground and leaned on a tree nearby. After the consert ended, the flock came toward me, and, after I stood, we flew up into the trees, and most of us fell asleep. I was vagely aware of Max and Fang talking in the middle of the night, and I heard my name once or twice, but I was too tired to care.

That morning, right before dawn, a horse woke me up. I frowned, blinked twice, then looked down, forgetting for a second that I was in a tree in Central Park. I followed the flock silently, Fang constantly looking behind him at me, probably not used to someone being behind him. Honey rosted peanuts cought Iggy's...nose...And Max bought six bags. She almost bought seven, but I refused, and told her that I would buy them myself if I actually wanted them. She looked at me funny, then looked around. Apperently she didn't like what she saw, because she turned toward Fang, Gazzy, and Nudge, and, taking Iggy and Angel with her, made her way over to them with an air of urgency. An idea popped into my head, but I decided to keep it to myself. I lagged behind slightly, catching up to them when they broke into a full-on run, yet always keeping myself a step or two behind. There was a sudden whispered "Left!" and the flock turned left, and jumped into a crowd of childern at the entrance to a zoo. I shrugged and walked deeper into the mass, but noticed that the flock didn't seem to follow. It didn't really matter, I guess, we'd just meet up after we got in. the guard waved us through, and I walked over to the nearest exhibit, which happened to be a lion. I waited until the rest of the flock got waved through, and, holding back a yawn, walked over to them. I watched as the four youngest walked around and peered through the bars at random animals, then looked up at Max, who looked about ready to scream. I walked up behind her, apparently silently, because when I put my hand on her shoulder, she spun around to face me, shocked. I held up my hands, in the classic "I mean you no harm" guesture.

"Oh, God, not another one." She muttered, looking directly at me, then at Fang, standing nearby.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Only a little," She said sarcasticly, shaking her head. "What's wrong?"

"I was going to ask you that," I replied, looking her directly in the eye. "And don't tell me 'nothing', because it's pretty obvious that it's something."

She looked at me, shocked. "I, Uh," She looked around, nerviously.

I sighed. "Thought so." I nodded at Fang, who was standing at a distance, and when he came over, I glanced at Max. "We need to get out of here. If one of you won't go crazy, I will." Max's jaw tighened, then, realizing I was right, sighed. She walked over to the others, and, after a quick command, we were off again.

(V) (;,,;) (V)

Oh. My. God. I am SO sorry everyone. I can't even...Okay, I'll try...The comuter that had all of my stories on it crashed, then the charger broke so I couldn't reach them there, then I lost my flashdrive that had all of the stories on it, then, when I found it again, I lost the MR book. I remembered after someone, a "BleachFreak359", alerted the story, so it made me think, "Whoa! People are still reading this!" so I wrote it on a computer with no spell check. On a similar note, if you find any grammer, punctuation, and/or spelling errors, please PLEASE tell me. Thank you!

i am veeery bored:

Thanks! xD Yeah, it has been that long...isn't that weird? That was a long time ago... Yeah, you where kinda..."mean"... but I DID ask for it. literally.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Maximum Ride.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

Recap: I sighed. "Thought so." I nodded at Fang, who was standing at a distance, and when he came over, I glanced at Max. "We need to get out of here. If one of you won't go crazy, I will." Max's jaw tightened, then, realizing I was right, sighed. She walked over to the others, and, after a quick command, we were off again.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

Thankfully, I had been smart enough to have my 30,000 Yen, which my family gave to me before we left, because I was "going on a really long trip", and they "had no idea when I'd be back" (which, actually, is a really accurate assumption), converted into the American dollar, so I had about three hundred dollars in my pocket. Well, I had 257 dollars, and 7 cents, but who cares about the technicalities? At the moment, I followed a few steps behind Angel, closer to the flock then I'd been before, as we searched the streets for food vendors. Stepping away from the group as they bought burritos, I bought a falafel at a vendor two doors down. I stepped back in place as Max froze, and, in a display of the most extreme authority I'd ever seen, announced that we were getting cookies. Smiling, I followed them, Max reminding me of a certain raven-haired midget.

After the cookies had been destroyed like the Nazis, we began walking again. Just as the younger kids were starting to question Max on her plan, I spotted a library. Never had read a book in English outside of my in-school English class, I was, understandably intrigued. I cocked my head a little, and Max, trying to stall, turned to see what I was looking at. Turning back, she shot me a grateful glance, and announced, to my delight, that we were going in there to look up the Institute. When we got there, Max had asked for the computers, and when the young man told them where to go, I told them that I'd catch up. After Max gave me a confused look, but nodded, she and the rest of the flock went up the elevator to the fourth floor. The man pointed me to fiction, when I asked, and I wondered up and down the isles for a while, before grabbing a few books that I found interesting. After reading a little bit into them, I made my way up the stairs to where the flock was slightly spread out, but still surrounding a single computer. After an hour and about fifteen minutes of nothing for Max and Fang, and the occasional save with hangman, and me speeding through books, we decided to leave. Of course, the female security guard swiftly approaching the group had helped speed the flock up a little. We had ended up in the hopping the turnstile and standing in the waiting area for about ten minutes, before Iggy heard voices. After approaching the voices, and almost being hit by a train, we had found a small town of homeless off the tracks. A knish later, we had piled ourselves on a ledge, and almost everyone was out. Except me. And Fang, who had offered to take the first watch. I stared at the tall ceiling, which gave me the odd feeling that either tons of people or tons of cars were moving above me. Us. Fang had gotten up and approached me, a strange action from what I've seen. He sat down next to me, and I sat up.

"The younger kids love you," He said awkwardly, not looking at me. I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. "The way you suddenly yell out something in Japanese that they don't know." I couldn't help but smile at that comment. He was obviously choosing his words very carefully.

"I can't help but feel like I'm intruding on something, you six have been together for a really long time. And then there's me, that random, bright-haired, add in who suddenly appeared out of nowhere." I mumbled, and fang shot a sideways glance at me.

"I take it you've always felt a little off."

"Distant from everyone? Yeah, but I can't complain. That seems like a lifetime ago, between Shinigami work and this new development, and I'm sure that you six have always felt off, different from everyone else. Of course you do. I mean, you guys where born with mmrrfff." I had slammed my face into my hands so I would stop mid-sentence. Fang gave me a questioning look. "Sorry. I had to stop somehow." I could've sworn I saw a smile.

Breaking this lovely encounter, suddenly, Max screamed. Well, it seemed to be a low moan at first, but it soon escalated, in both pitch and volume, to the point that I was grimacing, and Iggy had woken up. Fang had quickly made his way to the now sitting Max, and was trying to comfort her, to no avail. But then a boy I had dubbed Mac Boy started yelling at us, saying that we were screwing with his computer. When he turned the computer around, Max audibly gasped, and I got the feeling she'd seen that before. It was then when I saw her. She was standing a few feet away from us, a little to the right. She had long, black hair, and was about five and a half feet tall. But that's not what caught my attention. She had something in the middle of her chest, something that looked oddly familiar. Suddenly I realized what it was. It was a chain of fate.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

AN:

Sorry that took so long, guys, but I moved, from northern Nevada to the bay area of California. The book I was using was a friend's (Thanks, i_am_veeery_bored), so, obviously, I had to give it back. But my grandma just bought me the first four MR books, so I don't have to worry about that now. So, yeah. R&R please!


	9. Chapter 9

Recap: She had something in the middle of her chest, something that looked oddly familiar. Suddenly I realized what it was. It was a chain of fate.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

After Mac Boy left, and Max had explained everything to Iggy, I couldn't stand it anymore. I hadn't taken my eyes off the black-haired girl, and I stood up and approached her. I could feel Max's eyes on my back, along with Fang's and Iggy's. The girl turned to look at me.

"What are you doing?" she asked, then cursed herself, chewing herself out for forgetting that she was dead and no one could see her. I shook my head.

"I wanted to ask you a question," I replied, making her jump. "What's your name?" She stared at me for a minute, before looking around, trying to figure out who I was talking to.

"You're not talking to me, are you?" She said, frowning.

"Of course I am. You see anyone else around?"

She glanced around again. "No…"

"So? What's your name?"

"I'm Alex. You're the first person to talk to me since I died."

I smiled slightly. "I'm not surprised. How did you die?"

"You know that sign that says 'stay off the third rail?'"

"Don't tell me. You wanted to be cool and stand on it?"

She laughed. "Yeah. I kinda felt like an idiot when everyone around me flipped out and started trying to pull me away. By then I was already dead though…"

I smiled, then looked over to were the three awake members of the flock were staring at me curiously. Holding back a jump for joy, I smiled at them. Then I looked back at the girl. "Are your friends down here?"

"Yeah, they're over there," she said, pointing at a group of ratty-looking teenagers looking relatively sad.

"Would you like me to tell them you said hi?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

She smiled. "That would be hilarious. Would you?"

Smiling back, I said sure. Then I turned back to the flock, and asked them if they wanted to see something funny. Iggy raised an eyebrow at me, and I smiled. They all agreed, though, and stood to follow me to the small group of Alex's friends sitting up against the wall. They looked up as I approached, and I gave them a sad smile. They barely returned it. I crouched down in front of them, and they frowned at me. "Your friend, Alex, says you need to cheer up. Seeing you guys all sad is making her sad, and she feels like it's her fault. Show her you can be happy, and she might be able to pass on." They all looked at me with pure shock in their eyes, and suddenly, one by one, they began to smile. Then one laughed. Then they all laughed, and pretty soon they were all laughing really hard, and Alex, who was standing a few feet away joined in, before turning to shoot a grateful glance at me. I smiled at her, and turned to the small group behind me. They were all staring at me strangely. Then suddenly, Max had a moment of clarity.

"You've got your rietsu back."

(V)(;,,;)(V)

i_am_veeery_bored: of course you'd think like that. You're...you.


	10. Chapter 10

Recap: "You've got your rietsu back."

(V)(;,,;)(V)

I smiled at them as they all came to the same conclusion. Then they all looked over at me, for clarification. "Is that true?" Iggy asked.

"Not quite. I don't have all of it back, but I'm suddenly feeling a lot better. I think I have about a fourth of it."

"Not bad," Max said, and I simply smiled.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

After buying some peanuts, Angel suddenly looked up at me. "Hey, Ichigo?" She asked in that angelic voice of hers.

"Hmm? I replied, swallowing the peanut that was in my mouth.

"When we were in the school, I heard another voice in your head. Who was that?"

I raised an eyebrow as Max froze at her question. Apparently, she hadn't heard about that. It also sounded a lot like the Voice. "That was Zangetsu," I replied, glancing around. No one around was paying any amount of attention to us.

"Who's Zangetsu?" Max asked, obviously bringing back up Rukia's Shinigami lesson in her head.

"My zanpakutou. I haven't heard from him since, though." Max nodded, and looked thoughtful as she stepped into a phone booth. Coming out, she suddenly froze. A strange sensation ran through me, then suddenly I heard something.

"Playing is learning, Max," something said, slightly muffled, as if I was hearing it through an unseen filter. (doesn't THAT sound familiar.) Suddenly, I realized what I was hearing. I looked around, everyone around me staring at Max.

"Max?" I called gently, but was interrupted by Max's Voice again.

"Games test your abilities. Fun is crucial to human development. Go have fun, Max."

"Max? Max!" I called again. After she muttered something about not wanting to have fun, I was sure. "Max!"

"Get on the Madison Avenue bus. Get off when it looks fun." The Voice said.

"Damn it, Max!" I yelled. She whirled around to look at me.

"What?" She yelled. "Can't you see I'm having issues?"

"Max, I can hear it too. Your Voice. I hear it."

She stared at me blankly for a second. "What are you talking about?"

"'Playing is learning, Max'" I repeated. She stared at me in utter disbelief.

"How is that even possible?" she muttered, and all I could do was shrug. I had no idea what-so-ever why I could hear it.

After a few minutes of discussion, we made our way over to the bus stop, Max paying for the flock, me paying for myself. Then, after a fairly uneventful ride, we got off at a little toy store by the name of (unscramble the letters and change that name a bit) AFO Schmidt. I wondered around the store a little, intent on finding something for the twins back at home, but I didn't want anything for myself. Finding a couple of things, I headed toward the checkout, but was interrupted by Nudge hinting on a stuffed tiger by the name of Sampson. When Max had simply dismissed her, and she put it back, she turned to look at something else. I reached around her, without her seeing, somehow, and grabbed the animal. I headed to the counter, and checked out; planning on finding a post office later to send the things I got for Yuzu and Karin. After the man at the counter checked me out, and I paid, I looked up. An older woman was holding a white bear with an angelic outfit, and I thought nothing of it immediately. It was when I saw Angel standing off to the side, bouncing excitedly. Then, the woman handed her the bear, and I swear I almost died. Again.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

I stepped out of the store, finding the flock standing in a tight circle, with Angel in the middle. Apparently, they had been questioning her on the bear. I tapped Gazzy on the shoulder, and I motioned for him to follow me. Max saw me, and sent me a questioning look, and I held up the bag in my hand. Her mouth made an "oh" shape and she nodded simply. I smiled, and had Gazzy follow me into the store.

"What's up?" He asked. I motioned around the store, and he store, and he stared at me for a second. Then his eyes widened. "Really? You're…Really?" I smiled. Apparently, I could communicate non-verbally. A little too well.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

After Gazzy had picked out a toy, and I bought it, I counted up my remaining money. About a hundred and sixteen dollars. How it worked out so cheaply, I didn't know. But we had caught up with the rest of the flock, and I had presented Nudge with my gift to her, which caused an ear-splitting squeal, we began walking around, looking for the institute. Then the voice spoke again.

"It's just a toy, Max. Kids deserve toys. Don't you think you deserve a toy too?"

I felt like I was going to go crazy, hearing something in someone else's head. Max glanced back at me, probably seeing if I heard it too. I nodded shortly, before thinking, 'She's too old for toys', which Max obviously agreed to. But the fact that she looked back at me in utter surprise after freezing, suggests that something else had happened.

"Who's that?" The voice said, somehow showing emotion. I was utterly shocked.

"Is it talking about me?" I asked, jogging to catch up with Max.

"Yeah, it is." Max said, giving me a glance that said 'utterly horrified'.

"Who's there?" The voice asked again.

'Uhm, me?' I replied, in my thoughts. Max shivered.

"That's so weird. Your voice is in my head." I raised an eyebrow.

"Me? That doesn't help. What is your name?"

'Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki.'

(V)(;,,;)(V)

i_am_veeery_bored: Yep! And here's another one! That's what happens when I don't update for a while...haha


	11. Chapter 11

Recap: "Me? That doesn't help. What is your name?"

'Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki.'

(V)(;,,;)(V)

"Well, that was exciting," I muttered under my breath, and Fang grunted in agreement. An Eraser had just collapsed, dead, gone, after trying to carry Max somewhere. There was no ghost. I'm not really sure what that meant. At the moment, however, the seven of us were walking down the streets of New York, headed toward Central Park, watching taxis pass. Suddenly, something caught Max's eye down by a pathetic looking tree. She reached down and picked up something that looked like a card. My suspicions were confirmed when the Voice told Max she could use it if she could figure out the password. Then, to my surprise, and Max's, the Voice turned its attention on me.

"Ichigo Kurosaki. You are an interesting young man. I wish I knew more about you. Good luck." I frowned, and Max looked back at me. I shrugged. Fang saw this, and raised an eyebrow. I pointed at Max, and he turned his attention to her. She sent him a look, and he nodded, leaving the others staring at us like we were crazy.

"What just happened?" Gazzy asked, looking back and forth between all of us.

"Non-verbal communication?" I said, a little confused.

"How did you understand all that?" Nudge asked Max.

"I have no idea, actually. That was insanely vague," She replied.

"Weird," Fang muttered.

"What happened?" Iggy asked, understandably confused.

"Ichi, Max and Fang all had a conversation with facial expressions only," Angel replied, and Max laughed.

"Ichi? I like that. Hi, Ichi!" I rolled my eyes at her, and she smiled. Looks like I'd gotten myself a nickname.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

I glanced around the pews, feeling a bit uncomfortable. I'd never been much of a religious person, the seeing ghosts and all, but once I'd become a Shinigami, that stuff kinda went out the window. I glanced around, and noticed that the only one who didn't look like she was praying for something was Max. She shot me a glance that showed her confusion, and I replied with a tired smile. She seemed to understand me, and she turned to look ahead, and after a second, I realized that she had closed her eyes, and was beginning to mouth a prayer. That made me a Shinigami surrounded by Christians. And I can't tell you how weird that felt.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

We were on a hunt. For a green building. On Thirty-first street. I had no idea how we would get there, or even if it existed. Angel had figured out the password on the card, and we wondered around a while before we eventually found it. We had asked for a basement in the building, and the receptionist looked extremely confused, alert, and pissed off all at once. Later, I had asked the others if they saw that too, and they just gave me a blank look. Then Gazzy broke down, and, feeling awkward, I glanced up and looked around. And what I saw almost made me fall over in shock.


	12. Chapter 12

Recap: Then Gazzy broke down, and, feeling awkward, I glanced up and looked around. And what I saw almost made me fall over in shock.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

"Oh, my God." I muttered, and the other six looked up toward me. Standing about three feet from us was a proud, yet insanely confused, Renji, accompanied by none other than Kuchiki. Byakuya Kuchiki.

"Holy shit, Strawberry!" Renji yelled loudly. Thankfully none of the others could see or hear him. "Took you long enough to see me!"

"Well, sorry I was kidnapped!" I yelled back, confusing the flock.

"Although you should have been able to sense them," Byakuya stated coolly.

"Well, sorry I can't sense genetic recombinants with no rietsu!" Byakuya simply shook his head.

Renji approached me, and placing a hand on my shoulder, he said; "Rukia has been very worried about you, Ichigo." Startled at Renji's sincerity, all I could do was look at him, and realize that he was a full six inches taller than me. "She told us to treat you and your friends to a meal when you finally saw us again. Meet us at The Garden Tavern in twenty minutes."

I raised an eyebrow, and looked back at the group, who where watching me curiously. "Just keep in mind, these guys are black holes," I smirked, looking back at Renji. He grinned stupidly.

"So I've been told." Then they were gone.

"Thank you, Midget," I said, turning back to the group. "Remember Rukia? Her brother and her childhood friend are treating us to dinner at The Garden Tavern in twenty minutes. They need to get something really fast, then we'll meet them there."

Max frowned at me. "How are ghosts going to give us money for food?"

"You'll see. Let's go."

(V)(;,,;)(V)

Fifteen minutes later, the seven of us were in front of the restaurant, and Renji, in a gigai, approached us.

"You're late."

"No, we're five minutes early," I retorted, watching his smirk grow. "Alright, guys, this is Renji. Renji, this is Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel." I gestured to each one in turn. Then Byakuya showed up, and I repeated the process, and somehow, the flock had the sense to bow to the noble.

"I like your friends, Kurosaki."

"Uh, I thought you might. What are we waiting for?"

"Rukia, Uryuu, Orihime, Chad, your father, Urahara, Yoruichi, Ukitake-taicho, If he's feeling up to it, one of his third seats if he does, Izuru-fukutaicho, Hitsugaya-taicho, Hinamori-fukutaicho, Matsumoto-fukutaicho, Kyoraku-Taicho, so he can drink 'western' booze, Ise-fukutaicho, to keep Kyoraku-taicho in line, and the whole of the Woman's shinigami club, or whatever, Hanataro, and, for some reason, we were reassured multiple times that Kaien-fukutaicho would go if he wasn't, well, dead.." Renji replied.

"So, Yachiru will be there?"

"Yeah, but the invitation was 'lost' before it got to Kenpachi. In fact, Yachiru's the only one in the 11th division that knows."

"Why would Captain-Commander Yammamoto allow that?" Max asked. "With all the high-powered shinigami gone, what if something happens?"

It was Byakuya who answered. "Even though some of us are gone, Yamamoto, the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and twelfth captains and the first, second, seventh, and the ninth fukutaichos are there, along with countless seated and unseated shinigami. If they really need us, they can always call us." That's when everyone started showing up. First, Rukia, along with Uryuu, Orihime, Chad, the shop duo, and my father, who had brought the twins. Rukia kicked me, along with my father, Orihime cried and hugged me, along with Yuzu, while Chad, Uryuu, Urahara, and Yoruichi stood back. The flock waited for me to introduce them to everyone, and began to mingle. Then Toshiro's group showed up, with Momo, Rangiku, all her drinking buddies, and Nanao. Showing up with the woman's group, for some bizarre reason, was Hanataro. Then, about half a minute before we walked into the restaurant, Ukitake showed up, with Kiyone in tow. I had been the center of attention, having disappeared suddenly, and reappeared with a little extra weight. Or maybe less. Who knows? As we walked in, I held back a laugh as the waitress almost had a heart attack over the massive party that just walked in. And, in this case, 'Party' was more than just a term for a group. We, especially with Rangiku and her drinking buddies and the Shinigami Woman's Association trying to hold a meeting, were so loud, the woman led us through the Garden Room, into a somewhat smaller room meant for large, loud parties, but only after Byakuya claimed the reservation under his name. For a party of 31.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

AN: Just FYI, I updated again, because I mislabeled the 11th and 12th chapters and didn't want to be confused...haha...


	13. Chapter 13

(V)(;,,;)(V)

Our party was so long and so loud that I could have sworn that I had some hearing damage after it. Everything on the extensive menu was seen on the table at least twice, the favorites three to six times. Even the flock, with their extreme appetite, had eaten their fill by the end of the four-hour feeding frenzy. Byakuya had originally planned to pay for all of it, but the captains and fukutaichos had all insisted that they should split the bill equally, so there would be less of a dent in the noble's bank account. When everyone's hunger and thirst had been satisfied, including Kyoraku and Matsumoto's western booze fascination, Byakuya turned his attention on the daiko.

"Kurosaki, the when captain-commander heard of your situation, he asked me to find out if you were coming back to Japan any time soon. Your answer will determine his next step regarding your shinigami status."

I frowned at the noble. "What do you mean, my shinigami status?"

Byakuya sighed and glanced around. "Does anyone wish to explain?"

"Oh! I will!" The shopkeeper exclaimed.

Byakuya sighed again, deeper, and rubbed his forehead. "Anyone else?" When no one volunteered, or even made eye contact, Byakuya sighed again.

"If he keeps doing that, he might burst a lung," Gazzy whispered to the person on his right, who happened to be Yachiru. She giggled.

"Byakki likes to sigh. I think I might change his nickname to Sigh," she whispered, sighing the last word in an impressive impression of the noble.

Byakuya pretended not to notice. "Alright, fine."

"Yay!" Urahara smiled and whipped out his fan to hide behind. Max glanced at me.

"Does he always do that?"

"Yes," I sighed without looking up.

"As you may know, the word shinigami is a Japanese term. It roughly translates to 'god of death' in English. As a shinigami, you are a Japanese god of death. You are governed by the Japanese soul society.

"However, it is known by few that there are soul societies for countries all over the world. They are all on the same plane of existence, but they rarely interact with each other, except in world-threatening situations."

Rangiku giggled and then hiccuped. "I remember the last -hic- time we got together -hic- with another soul society!"

"I'm surprised," Toshiro grimaced. "You found Russia's party squad and got so drunk you blacked out for three days." Rangiku giggled again.

"Anyway," the shopkeeper said, directing the conversation back to him. "In rare cases, a shinigami can be transferred to another country's soul society. Instead of getting orders from our system, if you transfer, you'd get them from America's soul society. You'd be considered a grim reaper instead of a shinigami."

Max looked surprised. "I didn't know grim reapers were real."

I glanced at her. "I didn't know erasers or the school was real until I met you."

"Touche," Max muttered.

I then turned my attention back to Byakuya, who seemed satisfied with the explanation. "So, the captain-commander wants to know if I'm coming back to Japan or not so he can transfer me?"

Byakuya nodded. "Or at least try to."

I stared at my empty plate, contemplating. I then glanced up at Max, hoping that my strange, non-verbal communication was still working. She seemed to understand, and glanced around at the party. She looked back at me and shrugged, trying to tell me that it was up to me, and I could decide, but I could see the hopeful expression she was trying to hide.

"I'm staying here," I announced with conviction. "There's too much going on that I don't understand here, but I'm part of it now. I'm staying to help these guys."

The flock stared at me in shock. No one said a word, but no one had to. I could see their grateful looks.

Byakuya stood up, signaling the end of the meal. "Very well. I will find you a hotel room. There are a couple of hotels run by reapers around and they won't give you any trouble. For anything," he added, sending a pointed look at the flock.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

AN:

Oh my god, how long has it been? I would like to thank Kuraj Crescent for following and favoriting, alerting me to the existence of this story. I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, but I wrote it just now, and figured you guys needed something. I'll be posting again soon, I promise!


	14. Chapter 14

Recap: Byakuya stood up, signaling the end of the meal. "Very well. I will find you a hotel room. There are a couple of hotels run by reapers around and they won't give you any trouble. For anything," he added, sending a pointed look at the flock.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

"It sure was nice of Byakuya to find us a place to stay," Nudge commented, relaxing against the wall. We were gathered in the biggest room they had gotten us, which had two queen sized beds and a huge living area.

"I think he was impressed with your knowledge on the soul society." I replied, sitting in one of three chairs in front of the TV. Gazzy and Angel filled the other two. Max was seated on one of the beds, Fang on the other, Iggy had claimed the office chair in front of the desk that nudge was sitting on, legs dangling.

It was surprising, though, that Byakuya brought us to such a nice hotel. It was a five star, multi-level hotel, and we had gotten three rooms that all connected. Nudge and Iggy were sharing one, Angel and Gazzy had the one in between the other two, and Fang, Max and I were sharing the biggest one. They all had balconies that connected, and it had a magnificent view.

When we had first gotten to the hotel, the flock was, understandably, skittish. No one knew better than them that being in an enclosed space where people knew where you were was dangerous. However, Byakuya had quickly spoken to the manager, and explained everything as best as his knowledge allowed. The manager, having introduced himself to us as Scott Marley, explained that he ran this hotel as a cover for reapers as they did their business in the city. He calmly explained that he understood the need to keep a low profile, and he was a professional when it comes to getting people off the trail. Scott had told them that, because of our constant need for a fast get away, he would put us on the top floor, in the nicest rooms, all with balconies, and he would call the rooms if he found anything suspicious. The flock had quickly warmed up to him.

I thought, amused, that he was the Urahara of the American soul society.

"What's on our agenda for the day?" I asked, looking out the window at the New York skyline./span/p

"Food!" Nudge said immediately.

"You can call room service. Byakuya's paying for everything."

"Really?" Nudge excitedly jumped off the desk and ran to the phone. She dialed so quickly, it was amazing that she managed to dial the right number. "Hi, room service? Can we get two of everything?" she asked politely.

We could hear the person on the other end of the line sigh. "Is this room 1435, 1436, and 1437 or is this a joke?"

We all burst out laughing. Nudge couldn't speak anymore, she was laughing so hard, so Max took the phone from her. "Yes, this is room 1435. And, actually, can we get a couple extra bags of bagels?"

The girl on the other line laughed. "Scott warned us about you guys. He said that you had quite the appetite. What kind of bagels would you like?"

Everyone screamed out their favorite kinds of bagels and we got a bag for everyone. It took a while, but eventually, the girl who answered the phone brought up our food.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Raquel. I'll be taking care of your requests during your stay. Welcome!"

"Thank you Raquel! Are we allowed in the mini-bar?"

"Gazzy! No beer!" Max scolded. The Gasman just laughed.

Raquel laughed pleasantly and pushed another cart of food into the room. "I think this is everything. And, yes, you are allowed in the mini-bar, but if you'll look, you'll only find non-alcoholic drinks. There are a few bottles of water and a wide selection of soft drinks, and we refill them every morning. If you need anything else, please call!" With that, Raquel gracefully left the room.

"I like her," Angel commented. There were resounding grunts of agreement, because everyone had begun stuffing their faces.

When the food had stopped flying, Max stood up and walked to the window. Glancing at her reflection, she grimaced. "We may have found a safe place to stay, but I'm still worried. What if the erasers see us coming out? No matter what Scott says, no single person is a match for a pack of angry erasers. We need to confuse them somehow."

"Disguises?" Nudge asked, sprawled out on one of the beds.

"Something like that," Max replied, watching the birds fly above the skyline.

"Make overs?" Angel suggested, making Max turn to look at her. She held up a flier that came with the morning newspaper that room service brought up. I took the paper from Angel and read it out loud.

"U 'Do: Tomorrow's styles today's make over fest! Come to U 'Do and get a make over completely free!"

"Free? What? There has to be a catch," Max frowned. I continued reading.

"Our stylists will make you over completely, as long as they can do whatever they want!"

Max looked contemplative. "Sounds like a good deal. We could really confuse the erasers that way."

I nodded in agreement. I was probably the biggest liability there. Not only was I Japanese, but I was older, a little taller, and my hair was bright orange. I could use a makeover. I stuck out like a sore thumb. Fang was probably thinking the same thing when he uncharacteristically agreed immediately.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

I'm not sure what the rest of the flock's experience was, because when we walked in the salon, brandishing the flier, we were immediately separated and spread out among the countless stations. The building was a lot bigger on the inside then it appeared. There were multiple hallways of stations, and, from where I was, I couldn't see anyone else. I knew that we all agreed to meet at the front of the salon when everyone was done, and I knew that if they didn't wait for me, we would meet up at the hotel, but I felt uneasy not being able to see where they all were.

I had three 'helpers'. That's what they called themselves, because they were each assigned different jobs. My hair stylist was a short and thin woman with blue eyes and quite obviously died red hair with black streaks. She introduced herself as Rebekka. Rebekka took one look at me, spun the chair I was sitting in so I couldn't see myself in the mirror, and began her work. I could feel my already short hair sliding down the back of my neck. As Rebekka was working, a very flamboyant man introduced himself as Robert, and stood back a few feet and studied me, one hand on his hip and the other on his chin. After a while of him analyzing my every feature, he disappeared into the crowd of other makeup artists for a solid 10 minutes. By that time, Rebekka had finished her work, and guided me to another station that had less hair products and more beauty products. This time, there wasn't even a mirror to turn away from.

Robert had reappeared with what seemed to be his favorite masculine products piled in his arms. He set them on the counter with much care. Then he chose one, and began his work. He did explain what he was doing to me, though, maybe hoping that I would take his advice and try it on myself later.

"If you put this one here like this," he explained, without regard to the fact that I couldn't see what he was doing, "It will make you seem more," he paused, trying to think of the right word. "local," he finished, the look on his face saying that he hoped he hadn't offended me. Quite the opposite, however, I did want to look more 'local'. He quieted down a lot after that.

When Robert had almost finished, another 'helper' approached me. He said his name was Alex, and that he would be back shortly. He, like Robert, quickly vanished into a crowd of people that I don't really have a name for. Robert finished right as he came back, and he led me past a few rows of hair and make up stations, and I spotted Max with one of her 'helpers', and all nervousness quickly vanished. I didn't have much time to see what was different about her, but her hair was much shorter. Alex showed me to a changing room, and grabbed a measuring tape off a shelf. After he had taken my measurements, he left the room and I saw him follow a few other workers into a room that looked like a giant walk-in closet. He came back a few minutes later with a bunch of new clothes and had me try them on. Every time I put something new on, he would mutter to himself. It was usually, "That color doesn't work well with the hair" or "no, no, that's not right". Eventually, after I had put on a pair of dark grey skinny jeans and a graphic tee, he exclaimed, "Yes! That's it!" and handed me a mostly black zip up hoodie. It didn't occur to me until after he lead me back through the maze of stations and people and left me in the waiting room that he didn't notice my wings.


	15. Chapter 15

NA: Hey, guys, I'm sorry about the last chapter's messed up formatting. I fixed it though! Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Recap: It didn't occur to me until after he lead me back through the maze of stations and people and left me in the waiting room that he didn't notice my wings.<p>

When I got to the waiting room, Gazzy, Fang, and Nudge were already there, and they all looked at me in surprise when I approached them. Then Nudge gasped.

"Ichi? Is that you?"

"Yeah? Why? What did they do to me?"

Gazzy silently pointed to the mirrors behind me, and I turned and stared at myself.

Rebekka had somehow gotten my hair to lay flat and neat on my head, and she had dyed it light brown and added a couple of somewhat natural-looking red highlights. Robert hadn't been kidding when he said that what he was doing would make me look more local. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew where I came from, I would have thought that I was a white American. In fact, if I hadn't known that it was me I was looking at, I wouldn't have recognized myself at all.

I turned back to the three members of the flock and muttered "My god, they really did their job, didn't they?"

Nudge and Gazzy laughed, and even Fang looked a little amused.

I sat down in a vacant seat between Fang and Nudge, and she looked over at me. "I wonder if your facial expressions will still work now." I frowned at her and asked her what she meant. "Some of us have really special things about us," she replied in a low tone so no one around would listen in. "Gazzy's really good at impressions, and Angel can read minds. You seem to be able to communicate really easily through facial expressions."

I stared at the ground thoughtfully. Nudge was right. I could communicate easily with no words at all. It also seemed that I could understand other people's expressions, too. I decided to try it out, and I looked around the room and spotted a young girl and her mother waiting for someone in the chairs across from ours. I couldn't make out what they were talking about, because the room was too loud, but I could quite clearly understand that the girl wanted to go to the toy store and was begging her mom, but her mom was tired and she didn't want to drive anywhere. It surprised me how clear and detailed everything was to me just by their expressions. I still couldn't read lips, but I decided that, with this ability, I didn't really need to. I turned to Nudge again. "You're absolutely right." She giggled.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

It wasn't long before Iggy came out, and he followed the sound of Nudge's chattering right to us and sat down next to Fang. Max came out next, with Angel close on her tail. Once we were all gathered, and everyone had a chance to gawk at me, we rose and made our way out of the building. Half way back to the hotel, Rukia appeared in front of us, looking bewildered.

"You all look so different. Ichigo? Is that you?" I grinned and nodded, taking Rukia by surprise. "When was the last time you smiled like that?" She asked, then shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Captain-Commander Yammamoto sent me. He said that your request for a transfer has been accepted, and he and the leader of the reapers wanted me to give you these." She handed me a paper bag, and instructed me not to open it until we were safely back in our hotel room.

She looked nervous. I wasn't sure why, but the mention of the leader of the reapers made her uneasy. It seems my skill still needed some development.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

"Open it Ichi! Open it!" Angel begged the second we closed the door to the room behind us. They had all been bugging me to open it since we got in the hotel, and I was trying to follow Rukia's instructions. I was a little nervous about this myself, because I wasn't sure what working under the reapers would mean. I stopped myself. "I am a reaper now. I'm not just working under them. I am one." I thought, reminding myself yet again.

"Okay, okay, I'll open it now," I grunted, and sat on the bed furthest from the door. The flock immediately surrounded me. Even Fang was close enough to see. I took the bag on my lap and pulled out the staple. I sighed as I peered into the bag. I started pulling stuff out so the flock could see it.

The silence that had fallen over them as I opened the bag disintegrated as I pulled out the first item.

"What's that?" Gazzy asked as I pulled out a stack of papers stapled together. I briefly read the first page.

"It looks like an instruction booklet," I answered, flipping through the pages. "And it has a bunch of terms and stuff. This could be important." I pulled out the next thing. They asked me about it and I answered. It went on like this until I emptied the bag.

In the bag there was: the booklet, a soul pager (In the form of a smartphone), a new uniform, a couple of tubes of soul candy (which had me thinking, maybe I should go back and get Kon), and an official-looking envelope. I grabbed a butterknife from the tray of bagels and opened the envelope.

"Welcome, Ichigo Kurosaki!

"We are pleased to inform you that we have accepted your request for transfer from the Japan division to the American division! You have been placed in the 28th branch.

"We are thrilled to have you on board and we request your presence in the soul city for a tour.

"Welcome aboard!"

The bottom half of the page was adorned with sixty-four signatures.

I shook my head and sighed. How many people of power did the soul city have? I handed the paper to Max to let her read it, and I started on the booklet.

The first couple of pages were instructions on how to use the soul pager (they called it an eSoul. I had to laugh. It seems as if America's favorite smartphone company wormed it's way into the afterlife.) and the soul candy (That name seemed to be shared), but the rest of the booklet was information on the soul city. There were thirty-two branchs, one for each 10 million people in the country, and each branch had about a million members, and the members each had one of 25 ranks. There was one general for each branch, who was the head (like the captains in the soul society) and one lieutenant general per branch, who was like the vice-captain of the branch. The booklet had all of the names, but I didn't bother learning all sixty-four. I only tried to remember the general and the lieutenant general from my branch: Samantha Cunningham was the general and Thomas Grant was the lieutenant general.

I studied both of their pictures and got more information thrust into my brain than I expected.

I decided to focus on Thomas first, and I listened intently to what my mind picked up from the picture. Thomas was born to a couple outside of the central soul city, in what they called the suburbs. He was abandoned, but adopted by a family inside of the branches. He was taught how to harness his reaping powers by Scott as a favor to his family, and he was an eager student. He is very ambitious, and wishes to become general of the first branch. He is powerful, and is very close to reaching their version of bankai, third release.

I looked up and blinked a couple of times.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" Max asked, worry clear on her face.

I sighed. "I got this guy's whole life story from looking at his picture."


End file.
